Re: Make your own UI?

I would recommend starting with Bongos to customize your action bars. Once you've placed your action bars in a comfortable spot, I'd move to unit frames and get Pitbull. After that, you've got a whole slew of things to fiddle around with, including buffs, cooldowns, chat frames, etc.

I'd recommend that you start one addon at a time, to ease confusion. Good luck!

Re: Make your own UI?

Blizzard unitframes are, in my opinion, very bad, so I always change them first. I use X-Perl; they look good and you can easily customize them as you want.

When that fixed, I'd get SCT addon and FuBar. I like watching things like my mp5 regen, pet dmg and heals, and I dont like "Blizzards way" to show that. FuBar lets you use a FuAddon that shows experience, location and what I need of options for other addons.

On some chars, I get Bartender3 addon to get new actionbar layouts, but mostly I use Blizzard bars.

Re: Make your own UI?

Originally Posted by Skeeze

Blizzard unitframes are, in my opinion, very bad, so I always change them first. I use X-Perl; they look good and you can easily customize them as you want.

When that fixed, I'd get SCT addon and FuBar. I like watching things like my mp5 regen, pet dmg and heals, and I dont like "Blizzards way" to show that. FuBar lets you use a FuAddon that shows experience, location and what I need of options for other addons.

On some chars, I get Bartender3 addon to get new actionbar layouts, but mostly I use Blizzard bars.

You could try download WowAceDownloader. It shows alot of Ace addons in a list and you can just pick what you want and extremely easy install them.

I'd get bartender4 instead of bartender 3 for easier configuration and less cpu/memory usage. And I would definitely get StatBlocks/Fortress instead of fubar seeing as fubar uses an abandoned framework called Rock.

However if you are running a superhighend computer you can ignore my advice.

Re: How to make your own UI?

Figure out what exactly you want. If all you want is a shiny looking interface, then you are probably best off by simply downloading one of the popular designs.

If however, you are looking to improve your gameplay, not by looking at a beautiful interface but a functional one (not to imply the two don't go well together) then figure out what kind of functionality you want and start with that.
Also, make sure you don't overload yourself with options and information. As general guidelines (subjective opinion) a good interface should do the following:

1. Provide an intuitive layout that is easy on your eyes. Basically that means place stuff depending on where your eyes are at any given time and avoid screaming and too many different colors.

2. Provide information you need when you need it. Do not fall for the common unitframe options trap. Most Unit Frame addons, especially pitbull, offer you a gazillion options of what you can display. Make sure you display only what you need. For instance, what good is a PvP Icon on Raidframes? In a BG everyone is flagged. In a normal raid, you just don't care. Many people have both, classcoloring and classicons. Why?

3. Minimize clutter information. Do you really need everyone's cooldowns, or just the ones that matter?

4. Keep a decent amount of viewspace

5. Keep the number of different fonts and colors to a minimum. You want to *see* information, not decypher it. Classcolors already take up many slots. Make sure you do not add too many more to the list your brain has to keep track of.

6. Provide exactly the amount of visible actionbuttons *you* need and not a single one less. Many people seem to design by an overall look and just place as many action buttons as they can fit within that design. Do not do that. Figure out how many buttons you need (visible ones) and design the rest around that. You can easily make do with more if you have the spare room, but you simply cannot do with less.

7. Last but definately not least: design the interface FOR YOURSELF. Way to many people out there design stuningly beautiful interfaces that are great in screenshots and simply suck in action. Posting a screenshot of your work and getting good feedback and praises is nice, but it's you who has to play with that interface everyday. Make sure it suits your needs and yours only. If someone else happens to have the same needs, great, but don't let it be a factor in the decisions you make.

if you want a complete startup to play with use tukui or elvui but building yourself learns you alot and when shit happens you know where to look

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Originally Posted by Kaskade

I would recommend starting with Bongos to customize your action bars. Once you've placed your action bars in a comfortable spot, I'd move to unit frames and get Pitbull. After that, you've got a whole slew of things to fiddle around with, including buffs, cooldowns, chat frames, etc.

I'd recommend that you start one addon at a time, to ease confusion. Good luck!

if you want a complete startup to play with use tukui or elvui but building yourself learns you alot and when shit happens you know where to look

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bongos is no longer up to date?

You might find a lot in this thread, not up to date. Sorry, but if you look at last post from 2008 - this thread just got a necro. Though, if the information is still of use for people, then I don't see a problem. But I think MMO-Champion is against necro'ing - not sure though.

Stuff can be fixed, just get enough glue or duct tape!Roses are red, mana is blue. Suramar Guards, Will always find you!